孫中山是革命的先行者,他推翻滿清政府,除了有政治上的考慮,也有文明文化上的考慮。中國衰弱,以致受到列強欺侮,原因在於中國科學文明落後。基於這種文明落差,孫中山的種種作為,都是為了替中國爭取時間,使之迎頭趕上。孫中山明白,革命建立共和國,是緩和列強軍事瓜分的重要方法。此法能夠引導列強思考經濟瓜分的可能性。這種策略的使用,高明與大膽兼而有之。然而,當孫中山獲得革命成功,列強準備以合法姿態大肆搜刮中國之際,孫中山又以他的三民主義,捍衛了中國的經濟利益。免於中國受到經濟瓜分。三民主義的特色在民生主義,也就是它的經濟政策。民生主義中,又以平均地權和節制資本最為重要,其目的是防止土地兼併和資本兼併。在中國相對貧弱的時代,孫中山的平均地權和節制資本,阻止了列強以經濟來瓜分中國的野心,阻止了經濟瓜分的先決條件-土地兼併和資本兼併。他推廣國家社會主義,以及稱自己為「完全社會主義家」都是對列強經濟瓜分企圖做出的強硬宣示。
Sun Yat-sen was the pioneer of the revolution. He overthrew the Manchu government due to not only political considerations, but also civilization and culture reason. China's internal debilitation and underdevelopment of science led to abuse by foreign powers. The purpose of all the acts of the Sun Yat-sen was to gain more time for the Chinese to catch up with this civilization gap. Sun Yat-sen understood that starting a revolution and establishing the Republic was an important method to ease the military powers divide. This method was able to guide the powers to think about the possibility of an economic divide. The use of this strategy was a combination of intelligence and bold. However, when the revolution succeeded and the powers were ready to legitimately plunder China. Sun Yat-sen again defended China's economic interests with his Three Principles of the People. His actions protected China from economic divide. The main feature of the Three Principles was Principles of People's Livelihood, which was its economic policy. In Principles of People's Livelihood, equalization of landownership and regulation of capital was most essential. Its purpose was to prevent land annexations and capital merges. In the era where China was relatively poor and weak, Sun Yat-sen's equalization of landownership and regulation of capital prevented the powers' ambition to carve up China with economic terms and prevented the prerequisite of economic divide-land annexations and capital merges. He promoted national socialism and identified himself as ”a total socialist” were all attempts to make a solid declaratory to the powers who were eager to execute the economic divide.